In this meetup, the Sustainable Games Alliance and STRATEGIES will present the findings of two research projects on the impact of AI on sustainability goals.

In the first, Ben Abraham presents a summary of key projections from the International Energy Agency’s “Energy and AI” report, what it means for climate goals, and an overview of existing data sources for environmental calculations of AI training and inference.  

We will then hear from Chloé Germaine, who will share insights from the report on AI in the games industry for STRATEGIES, and the lack of transparency into the true sustainability costs and impacts. Chloé will argue that the consequences of a lack of visibility into training and inference costs, as well as the location and energy mix of data centres, enable efficiency narratives to function as greenwashing. As a result, adoption decisions are driven by hype and competitive pressure rather than evidence, risking wasted investment. The result is that environmental costs accumulate invisibly, undermine accountability and leave developers without the information required for informed choices.

Dr Chloé Germaine is Reader in Environmental Humanities in the School of English at Manchester Metropolitan University, where she co-directs the Manchester Game Centre. Her research considers the climate justice and environmental impacts of games, including the potential for their design and use in climate education and activism. She is co-lead of the STRATEGIES research project, co-funded by Innovate UK and Horizon Europe. 

Dr Benjamin Abraham is the research and standard lead for the Sustainable Games Alliance, developing a game industry-specific GHG emissions standard to accelerate climate action. He is the author of the book 'Digital Games After Climate Change’, and has a newsletter called Greening the Games Industry.

Sustainable Games Alliance

The Sustainable Games Alliance (SGA) is a global non-profit cooperative founded by leading game entrepreneurs and environmental researchers from around the world. Its mission is to make the games industry a leader in sustainability by setting ambitious yet achievable standards for environmental and social responsibility. The Alliance currently has members from 11 different countries, including mobile, PC, and console game developer studios, as well as local and pan-European game associations.

Visit our website for more information: https://sustainablegamesalliance.org